Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
Bridge: Phantasy for Piano & Strings in F# minor
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Cynthia Phelps, viola
Robert deMaine, cello
Jeremy Denk, piano
Frank Bridge wrote a number of fantasies for piano and strings a century ago as part of a series of annual British competitions. Most of them won prizes.
Stefan Jackiw is a wonderful young violinist. At an open rehearsal several years ago, the pianist was late due to Seattle traffic, and Stefan entertained the crowd by playing the E Major Suite for Solo Violin by Bach. I just closed my eyes and went into a trance.
Cellist Robert deMaine is first chair cello with the Detroit Symphony and a talented composer. He has written a set of caprices for solo cello, and one of them is hilarious. In the piece, the muezzin issues the call to prayer from the mosque, beautifully stated by the cello, and the people respond with – a belly dance. I asked him how the people of Dearborn took it when he played the piece there, and he said they loved it. Some Arabs, at least, have a sense of humor.
Dvorák: Selections from “Cypresses” for String Quartet, B. 152
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Amy Moretti Schwartz, violin
Richard O’Neill, viola
Ronald Thomas, cello
I know both Amy and her husband Steve. They’re great people.
Debussy: Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor
Efe Baltacigil, cello
Adam Neiman, piano
This will be a new piece for me.
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances for 2 Pianos, Op. 45
Orion Weiss, piano
Inon Barnatan, piano
Sergei Rachmaninov was the rare composer who understood both the artistic and business sides of music. When the October Revolution hit, Rachmaninov was best known as the leading conductor of Russian opera in the game. But Russian opera doesn’t travel very well. When he came to America in 1918, he was met at the dock in New York with telegrams for two job offers as music director of an orchestra: one from Cincinnati and the other from Boston. (The Boston slot was the job that Serge Koussevitsky took a few years later.)
Rachmaninov knew that it was not yet the era of the itinerant conductor. When you signed a contract with an orchestra, you were there for the whole year. But it was the tail end of the era of the great flamboyant pianist. Hoffmann, Lhevinne, Busoni, Gabrilowitz, Cortot, Carreño and others dominated the world’s concert halls. Rachmaninov took the year off, brushed up on his piano technique and signed with Edison Records in 1919. He quickly became the greatest pianist of the 20th Century, eclipsing his rivals. His piano concertos chased the existing Romantic piano concertos right out of the concert halls. When he signed with RCA Victor in 1927, he got a great deal and complete artistic control. He had homes in New Jersey and Beverly Hills.
In 1938, the pianist Arthur Rubinstein was living in Beverly Hills, and he was pleased to discover that both Rachmaninov and Igor Stravinsky were neighbors. He decided to arrange a dinner at his place where the two could finally meet. Rachmaninov and Stravinsky were of two different Russian generations. Sergei was the ultra-Romantic, and Igor was the firebrand avatar of new music. Rubinstein wondered if they would be able to stay in the same room and began to question his decision.
When the men arrived, both were wary and exquisitely polite.
Stravinsky began tentatively, “Sergei Vasilievich, have you had difficulties collecting your royalties from the Bolsheviks? The tsar’s government at least paid promptly, but I’ve had a hell of a time getting a single kopeck out of the current government.”
Rachmaninov relaxed, laughed deeply in his basso profundo voice and responded, “Igor Fyodorovich, those Communist sons of bitches have been robbing me blind for the past twenty years!”
And the two men became the best of friends.
This is Rachmaninov’s last piece, written both for orchestra and for a two piano arrangement for performance to his friends. It’s a showpiece.
Thanks for the ping....and the story about those two Russian firebrands! :)